$2 million: The entry price for California’s fastest growing segment of home sales.

California’s $2 million-and-up home market is sailing past its prebubble highs, even as the rest of the market continues to play catch up. In other words, while the state’s housing market is still on the road to recovery, the number of $2 million-and-up home sales is back to normal. Read More »

There are just a few hours left to stock up on forever stamps, which are an even better investment than usual this year.

On Monday, the U.S. Postal Service will increase the cost of a stamp to 49 cents from the current 46. That’s a 6.5% jump in price, and an opportunity to save some money if you’re going to be doing any bulk mailing over the next two years, at least. Read More »

2013: A year of records, a bit of return to normalcy, but some continued struggles.

This past year the Federal Reserve held more than $3.7 trillion in bonds on its balance sheet, boosting its total assets over to $4 trillion. Despite that, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.04% from lower than 1.80% at the end of 2012 as investors’ suspicions that the Fed might eventually begin tapering became a reality and was announced at the FOMC’s December meeting. Read More »

79%: Share of 18-to-34 year old members of the military “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with their current financial situation.

Being all that you can be in the military appears to include having your finances in order.

Young members of the military are more likely to save for retirement, be prepared for an emergency expense and feel better about their financial situation than their peers, a recent survey from Navy Federal Credit Union found. Read More »

49.6%: Share of American 16-24 year-old that will be working or looking for work in 2022, down from 66.1% in 1992, according to the Labor Department.

It has been a rough few years, to say the least, for America’s young people. The unemployment rate for 16-24 year-olds neared 20% during the recession, and remains a brutal 14.1% even after four and a half years of economic recovery. Less than half of Americans under 25 were working in November; less than a quarter were working full-time. Economists now speak openly about the prospects of a “lost generation” of American youth.

49.2%: Percent of the population that lives in a household where at least one member received some type of government benefit in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The share of Americans living with someone receiving government benefits continued to rise well into the economic recovery, reflecting a weak labor market that pushed more families onto food stamps, Medicaid or other programs.

Nearly half of the U.S., or 49.2% of the population, living a household that received government benefits in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 45.3% three years earlier, the Census Bureau said. By the end of 2011, the economy was two and a half years out of the recession, but the unemployment rate remained above 8%. Read More »

48,000: The difference between the three-month average jobs added now and July.

Nothing puts the joy in holidays like a burst of job growth.

Friday’s employment report showed the U.S. economy generated 203,000 new jobs in November on top of 200,000 added in October. Payrolls have grown by an average of 193,000 in the past three months, up from 145,000 in the three months ended July.

The mix of job gains also is encouraging. Traditionally high-paying sectors such as manufacturing and transportation helped to pace hiring. An increase in the average hourly wage coupled with the total job gain and a longer workweek suggest a healthy increase in November personal income.

What’s strange about the numbers is the timing: Businesses are hiring strongly in a quarter that is on track to post fairly weak output growth (thanks in large part to the third quarter’s inventory buildup). That raises the question: is the burst of hiring a catch-up for businesses that held back, or a sign of new momentum? The answer matters because makeup job growth won’t last. Read More »

25: The gap between the average credit score of Millennials in the South and the rest of the nation.

There’s a wide variance in the credit scores of younger Americans, but those in the South tend to have the lowest ratings.

As we reported earlier this week, young adults ages 19 to 29 — the so-called Millennial generation — have the worst average credit score of any other age group, mostly thanks to shorter credit histories and few assets compared to their elders. But among that generation there’s a large range from state to state — from an average of 590 in Mississippi to 650 in Minnesota.

The South, in general, has lower credit scores than the rest of the country for all age groups, with the smallest gap for the so-called Greatest Generation who lived through World War II. Millennials in the South have credit scores, on average, about 25 points below their peers in the rest of the nation. Read More »

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